Former crime lab in Middletown being turned into unique kind of cafe

Chris English @courierc

Wednesday

Jan 3, 2018 at 6:00 AM

With a big boost from area unions, the New Britain Township-based Peace Valley Holistic Center is turning the former Bucks County crime lab in Middletown into a Starbucks-like cafe that will be open to the public and run by special education students.

A rundown old building in Middletown, vacant and an eyesore for many years, is springing to life again with new purpose.

With a big assist from several area unions providing volunteer labor, leaders of the New Britain Township-based Peace Valley Holistic Center are transforming the former Bucks County crime lab into a coffee shop that will be open to the public and operated by young adults with special needs.

Peace Valley Executive Director Donnamarie Davis sees the Middletown facility as an expansion of the holistic center, founded in 2010 by Davis and her mother, Christina Davis, to provide holistic services like nutrition, music, and color and light therapy to special needs children.

The cafe will extend the center's services by providing valuable job training to special needs children as they reach adulthood, Donnamarie Davis said. Those who work there can use their experience to hopefully get jobs at places like Starbucks, Chick-Fil-A and similar establishments, she added.

"The purpose is to take youths and put them in a work program," Davis said. "When these (special needs) children reach 21, they need a purpose like everyone else.

"I started reading articles about (special needs youths) with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) ending up in Bucks County Prison," she continued. "Nobody was holding onto the reins or steering that energy in a positive direction, so they start to self medicate. That causes an addiction and that is how they are ending up."

Hopefully, the direction and training provided by the cafe will help to prevent those kind of outcomes, Davis said. "These aren't bad kids, they just need direction," she said. "We will be training them and mentoring them and trying to place them in places like Starbucks."

Davis said the training provided by the cafe will fill a void because it will be for teenagers and young adults ages 17 or 18 to 26 or 27. While on-the-job training programs for special needs students are common at public schools for students up to ages 17 or 18, they are rare for students above that age, she said.

"We're trying to provide training for students beyond school age and not only training, but also job placement once the training is completed," Davis said.

The single-story, 2,500 square-foot Middletown building — unused since the county built a new crime lab in Ivyland in 2008 — is adjacent to District Judge John Kelly Jr.'s courthouse on Trenton Road. Peace Valley is paying $1 a year in rent to the county after both parties agreed to a 29-year lease last year. The county also gave Peace Valley $10,000 to use toward renovations, county Operations Director Kevin Spencer said.

The lease arrangement is the same for Peace Valley's New Britain Township building, a former county group home still owned by Bucks County, he added.

Once renovations to the Middletown building are completed, estimated to be sometime in April, the new cafe will be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and serve coffee, coffee-related drinks, ice cream and prepared snacks. There will be no cooking on the premises, Davis said.

"It's a pretty amazing way to give back to the community," said Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia, a Middletown resident and former social worker. "That building was in horrible shape, and this is a unique opportunity to provide a place for the community to go and get something to eat and drink, and young adults with special needs to get job experience and skills."

Of the $250,000 estimated cost of the renovation, area unions are saving Peace Valley $180,000 to $200,000 with voluntary labor, estimated Louis "Buz" Harris, a former vice president with Ernest Bock and Sons Construction who is supervising the renovation at no charge. EBS was the general contractor for the new justice center in Doylestown Borough.

For the remaining costs, Peace Valley has gotten the $10,000 from the county, a $10,000 grant from Foundations Community Partnership, and has and will continue to solicit monetary, equipment and material donations from area residents and businesses, Davis said. Among the businesses stepping up to donate used equipment has been Starbucks, she added.

When the cafe opens, the manager will be Donnamarie Davis and the assistant manager Upper Southampton resident Matt Kelly, who has gotten assistance from the holistic center with various issues and is now a business development intern there. Davis and Kelly will be paid but not the others who work there, Davis said. The value will come with the skills and experience they gain, she added.

Davis, who also is an attorney, said most of the people working at the cafe will be considered interns or volunteers and U.S. Department of Labor law permits them to work just for the experience and not be paid.

"And we're not only training them but then trying to place them in paid positions once the training is over. We're trying to create awareness and inclusiveness and for the public to come in and experience the youths," Davis said. "What they learn there will be transformative. They will be learning life skills they can't learn someplace else, and that will make them feel included and a part of society."

Kelly added that "I'm really excited for the chance to work with the youths. I've worked in food service at Applebee's, the Spring Mill Country Club and am now working at Starbucks to learn the cafe business."

Harris said he views his role in the project as a labor of love.

"I just think everyone needs to step up and do something to help another person," he said. "Just give back and share what you have, share your abilities to make it better for other people."

To find out how to donate to the cafe project, visit peacevalleyholisticcenter.org.

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